SUMMARY
It was the second game in less than 24 hours for the Montreal squad, who defeated the Virginia Beach Mariners 1-0 the night before.
The Kickers had a good scoring opportunity at the 5th minute of play when forward Kevin Knight’s diving header sent the ball just left of goalkeeper Greg Sutton’s net.
Montreal’s struck back at the 28th minute, just outside the box, but midfielder Masahiro Fukasawa’s low shot from 20 yards out hit the right post.
The Impact played with an extra man for roughly 60 minutes after Kickers forward Joey Worthen was ejected from the game for an illegal tackle on midfielder Patrick Leduc at the 29th minute of play.
Leduc almost broke the scoreless draw at the 58th minute. Receiving a short pass from Antonio Ribeiro, his high shot was deflected over the bar at the last second by Kickers goalkeeper Ronnie Pascale
Montreal Impact Goalkeeper Greg Sutton tallied his third shutout of the season and has allowed only one goal so far in 2005.
The Impact, now 2-0-2, will be back in town Monday evening and will play the fifth game of a six-game road stretch Sunday, May 15, against the Toronto Lynx at Centennial Stadium (4:00 pm, CKAC 730, CJAD 800).
Beforehand, Montreal Impact players and coaching staff will be introduced to their fans this Tuesday, at noon, at Complexe Desjardins during the team’s official presentation.
COMMENTS
Head coach Nick De Santis : "We played a very good game even if it was our second match in less than 24 hours. We did not want to give the Kickers anything, and that's what we did. Usually, this team scores goals every game but tonight we stopped them. Overall, getting four points on a possibility of six is very satisfying."
Gabriel Gervais: "We reacted well when the Kickers player was sent off. We continued our good work defensively. It was obvious that fatigue was a factor and we weren’t as keen, but the important thing is that we didn’t allow a goal during the two games this weekend."
Patrick Leduc: "It’s very positive because we’re adding four points to our bank account. But it's disappointing not to have scored with the man advantage. We didn’t have many chances to score and we were unable to capitalize on the few that we had."
SHOTS MTL 8 RIC 6
SAVES MTL 2 RIC 4
FOULS MTL 14 RIC 19
OFFSIDES MTL 6 RIC 0
CORNERS MTL 3 RIC 4
CAUTIONS
MTL: Antonio Ribeiro 15
RIC: Richie Williams 28
MTL: Nevio Pizzolitto 63
MTL: Masahiro Fukasawa 70
RIC: Chris Fox 70
RIC: Matt Delicate 73
EXPULSIONS
RIC: Joey Worthen 28
REFEREES
Joe Caroccio, John Schmitz, James Brooks, Robbie Fierro
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Source: Patrick Vallée
Info: 514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
